The crowd begins to hush as Jason Dante stands in the middle of the ring, mic in hand.
"I'm out here to address The Hunter, but also all of you, and everyone backstage... I owe each and every one of you an explanation. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, maybe not more than most people, but certainly with more dire consequences. One of those mistakes was trusting two 'men' that no one should ever trust... Bruce and Bleeder!"
Cheers and jeers come from the crowd at the mention of these two legends.
"There are a lot of things from that era that I've tried to fix and set right. I've worked hard at that, and I'd like to think I've done a pretty good job... But I know now that there was one problem that I overlooked. I thought it was all sorted out, or maybe I just deluded myself into believing that... Either way, though, I did what I could!"
"Now, 'Hunter,' you can stop chasing me, because I'm standing right here, and I'm offering up an explanation for everything! I'm going to tell you why I haven't done --"
Before Dante can finish, The Hunter is on the ramp, racing towards the ring. No music, no fanfare, just a man on a mission. He slides into the ring and rises to his feet, heading straight for Jason Dante.
The Hunter attacks Dante as he enters the ring, and the two men begin brawling wildly, attacking each other with furious punches. The Hunter is able to gain the upper hand quickly, rolling on top of Dante and driving his elbow into the albino's temple. Dante claws at his opponent's mask, but The Hunter pulls away and rolls up to his feet. He aims a kick at Dante, but his boot gets caught and Dante spins him off his feet down to the canvas. Dante stands up, still holding The Hunter's foot, then gets kicked in the face with the other foot. He staggers back into the turnbuckle as The Hunter kips up.
Cain: These two men are really going at each other, even this early in the match.
Tex: Well, they've spent a long time building up this enmity - an enmity we still don't properly understand.
The Hunter chokes Dante in the corner, until Dante knees him in the gut and knocks him back. Dante goes up to the second rope and then comes off with an axe handle. The Hunter goes down and Dante keeps stomping him until he manages to roll out under the bottom rope and to the floor. Dante immediately hurls himself off the top rope, going for a plancha, but The Hunter dodges and Dante eats concrete.
Banter: Ouch!
Cain: This match has spilled outside already, and Dante looks like he might be concussed from that brutal impact.
Dante has a glassy stare as The Hunter pulls him to his feet and leans him against the apron. He lays in chops, quickly turning his pale chest bright pink. He whips him into the opposite barrier and then charges, but Dante manages to duck down and lift him up and over into the crowd. The referee is counting, but Dante shows no signs of even acknowledging him. He climbs over the barrier where The Hunter is lying in amongst the fans and lifts him up. He slams him back down onto the concrete and then grabs a chair from next to him. He swings it down onto his foe, but The Hunter rolls away and Dante hits the concrete with his weapon.
Tex: Order needs to be restored in this match!
Banter: Ah, let ‘em fight. That's what we came here to see, right?
Tex: Sure, but not some no-holds-barred brawl in the stalls! Someone's going to get hurt!
Banter: In a wrestling match?! Madness!
The referee is now on the other side of the barrier, imploring Dante and The Hunter to return to the ring, but he continues to be ignored. The Hunter is up on his feet and heads away from Dante, leading him further into the crowd. Dante goes after him and the referee reluctantly follows, trying to restore some order to the proceedings. The Hunter hits Dante with a big right hand and then climbs a few steps before leaping into him with a diving spear.
Dante gets a foot under The Hunter and kicks him off. He scrabbles upright and makes a grab for The Hunter, but gets a kick to the gut. The Hunter is up and hurls Dante into a metal barrier that divides the crowd. He punches him in the face again and again and then suplexes him onto the concrete.
Cain: Dante has been taken out by another brutal move. The referee seems to be letting this stuff slide...
Tex: He wants them back in the ring so this match can continue. I doubt he wants to be the guy who throws out a match like this on pay-per-view.
The referee is yelling at The Hunter, and so he picks Dante up by the hair and drags him back towards the ring. He whips him over the barrier and then follows, dropping a leg across his throat and then rolling back into the ring. He waits for Dante to climb to his feet, and then hits a baseball slide that sends him back down to the floor. The Hunter swings himself out of the ring and stomps Dante down. He hooks him under the arms and lifts him before executing a butterfly suplex on the outside.
Dante looks pretty out of it as The Hunter rolls him into the ring. He dives in after him and stalks Dante, moving slowly as the former World Champion climbs up to his knees. The Hunter strikes with a vicious knee to the side of the head, knocking Dante into the ropes, and then dragging him upright and into a belly-to-belly suplex. Dante bounces off the mat hard, but makes a valiant effort to get back up to his feet. He swings sloppily at The Hunter, who easily dodges and catches his arm, locking in a full nelson and then lifting him into the air and driving him down into the mat with a full nelson bomb.
Tex: The Hunter has an amazing catalogue of devastating power moves. He's picking Dante apart.
Banter: Dante's not so tough...
Tex: Banter, Dante is one of the toughest men in this sport. I hope I don't have to remind you of his wars against Highone, Hammer and Darkness in the past. He's taken more punishment than anyone I've ever seen, and still gotten up fighting.
Banter: So in other words he's stupid?
The Hunter draws a thumb across his neck and lifts Dante up from behind. He locks him in an inverted-front-facelock and then lifts him into the air. As Dante comes down, he goes to sit out into an Ace Crusher, but Dante manages to land on his feet and shoves The Hunter away towards the ropes.
Cain: We haven't seen a move like that in a while!
Tex: Hold on a second...
The Hunters comes back with a knee to the gut and then flips Dante up onto his shoulders. He turns to one side and, with no preamble whatsoever, simply dumps Dante over the top rope with a powerbomb right down to the floor.
Tex: Oh my God!
Banter: What was it you were going to say?
Tex: The Hunter just powerbombed Dante right out of the ring!
Banter: Yes, but...
Tex: He's been broken in half!
Dante is laid out on the outside. The Hunter dives out of the ring on the opposite side and searches under the apron. He emerges a few moments later with a steel chair and then walks around the ring to where Dante is lying. The referee intercepts him and tries to take the weapon from him. There is a momentary struggle before The Hunter snatches the chair from the official, drives it into his stomach and then smashes him across the head. He falls to his knees, and The Hunter hits him again, knocking him right to the floor. There is a trickle of dark blood forming on the black protective mats.
Tex: He just took out the referee! This match needs to be stopped!
Cain: This whole thing has gotten seriously out of hand now.
Dante has pulled himself to his feet using the ring post. He turns just in time to meet the steel chair with his face and goes down again. The Hunter hefts the chair and aims it at Dante's back. He smashes him over and over again, aiming the shots at Dante's neck. Unbelievably, as The Hunters steps away, Dante tries to pick himself up. The Hunter throws his head back and emits a muffled laughing noise as he attacks again, smashing Dante across the head and sending him reeling back against the apron.
Tex: This is nothing more than a mugging! The Hunter is destroying Dante before our very eyes!
Banter: Well, at least you can't accuse him of doing anything by halves.
Cain: Look how The Hunter is aiming those chair strikes against Dante's spine and neck. It was only last year that Dante suffered a nearly career-ending injury at the hands of Drakus which broke his neck in two.
Tex: And I think it's safe to say that he's been busted wide open too...
Dante's alabaster features are now a mess of dark blood. The Hunter hits him with the chair again, and Dante slumps down to the floor. The Hunter discards his dented, bloodied weapon and hauls Dante up. He whips him towards the announce tables, but Dante stumbles and falls flat on his face, leaving a smear of blood on the floor. The Hunter steps over him and begins assaulting the Spanish announce table, removing the monitors and taking off the protective cover.
Banter: Hey, better get out of there, guys!
Tex: The Hunter is demolishing the table, and I bet I know what he has planned.
Dante is on his hands and knees, but The Hunter aims a stomp at his head, smashing him back down onto the floor. He immediately picks him up again and rolls him onto the table. He climbs on after him and roughly lifts him. Once again, he locks in an inverted-front-facelock and signals. He lifts Dante up and over onto his shoulder, but Dante wraps his own arm around The Hunter's throat and spins around, hitting the Broken Reflection right through the table!
Cain: Oh my God! Dante reversed! He put The Hunter through that table!
Tex: Has the tide turned in this match? If you can even call it a match that is...
Both men are laid out in the ruins of the Spanish announce table. Dante is a mess of blood. The Hunter starts to stir, clambering up to his feet. He shakes his head to recover, but then Dante lunges at him, sending him sprawling onto the other announce table.
Banter: Okay, you guys can have this table too if you want...
Tex: We'd better make ourselves scarce, fellas.
Dante walks around to the front of the table, wiping blood from his eyes. He punches The Hunter in the face and then chokes him before driving an elbow into his windpipe, leaving the masked man gasping for breath. Dante turns around and then climbs onto the apron. He pauses, and then turns again, entering the ring and climbing up the near turnbuckle until he stands right on the top rope. He crouches down as the crowd cheers and then hurls himself through the air, aiming for The Hunter with a body splash.
Cain: A splash! Dante is going to break The Hunter in half!
But there's no one home! The Hunter rolls out of the way and Dante flies right into the announce table, reducing it to splinters as he crashes through it.
Banter: Hey! My notes!
Tex: My God...Dante...he's not moving...there's blood everywhere...oh my God...
The Hunter sprawls on the floor, breathing hard, while Dante is completely motionless, lying amongst the remains of the table, monitors and all. There are a few sparks as electrical wires, fully sheared through by the impact, make contact with pools of Dante's blood.
Cain: We need a medical team out here! Dante is seriously injured!
Banter: There's blood on my goddamn shoes! I didn't sign up for this!
The Hunter is on his feet. He stares down at Dante and then laughs again, his whole body shaking with sick mirth. He drags Dante towards the ring and then rouses the referee, lifting the man by the back of his shirt and then releasing, shocking him into consciousness by dropping him face-first on the floor. The referee pulls himself up with a groan as The Hunter rolls Dante into the ring and then covers him.
Tex: Finally, mercifully, this match looks like it's about to end.
Slowly, the official clambers into the ring and makes the count...
One...
Two...
Thre...no!
Banter: What?!
Cain: Dante kicked out! Somehow, someway!
The Hunter stares down at Dante in disbelief. With a snarl he crosses Dante's legs over and digs his knee into his shins. He grabs Dante and shoves him into a front-facelock, wrenching backwards in the painful hold. Dante convulses and tries to claw his way free, but The Hunter's grip is too tight. He tries to reach out towards the ropes, but they're nowhere near.
Tex: This is...well, the last time I saw it, it was known as the ‘Canadian Clutch'.
The referee, groggy and bloody, but obviously scared of The Hunter, checks on Dante. He refuses to give up and The Hunter pulls back further and twists his body, placing incredible strain on Dante's spine. The albino is shaking now, dripping blood all over the mat as The Hunter compresses his neck. His arms are hanging limply. The referee goes to lift his arm...
It falls once...
Twice...
Thr... no! Dante keeps his arm in the air!
Cain: Dante is still conscious! He's still in this match!
Banter: He needs to give up. He needs to tap out, or he's just going to die. It's that simple.
The Hunter tightens his grip again, but now his own shoulders are shaking with the effort of keeping the hold in place. Finally, with a yell of pain, he releases, collapsing back onto the mat. Dante falls back against the ropes and leans on the bottom one, his head lolling back. Blood still pours from his head wound, now mingling with sweat to give his entire face a chest a red sheen.
The Hunter rolls onto his stomach and pushes himself upwards. He moves towards Dante, but gets tripped into the ropes. The two men tangle in the ropes, neither able to gain any leverage until The Hunter hurls Dante away. The albino stumbles and falls down to his knees, clearly exhausted. The Hunter grabs him around the throat from behind and yanks him upwards, over and down into the Ace Crusher, finally hitting his big move. Dante folds like an accordion, making a wild grab for his neck as he arches back and then collapses to the mat, his eyes wide and glassy.
Tex: And now the Canadian Cutter!
Banter: Hold on a second...
The Hunter pins...
One...
Two...
Thre...no! Dante rolls his shoulder up!
Cain: Dante kicks out! Incredible tenacity!
Tex: This man is nothing short of superhuman.
With a roar of fury, The Hunter jumps up. He stomps Dante down with frantic kicks and then falls on top of him, unleashing furious rights and lefts on his bloodied foe. Dante tries to protect himself from the onslaught, but The Hunter is much healthier than him at this stage and there's nothing he can do. Dante's face is rapidly becoming a bruised, bloody mess as The Hunter lays into him, spraying droplets of blood across his bare chest.
Tex: He's going to kill him! Somebody stop this match!
Banter: I feel sick...
The referee tries to intervene, but The Hunter pushes him away and continues his relentless assault, clawing at Dante's face. There is blood everywhere. The Hunter roars again and throws back his head as he clenches his fists, exposing his chest, spattered with Dante's blood, to the horrified fans.
Cain: This barbaric display has gone on long enough! We need security here! We need the police here! This is nothing more than murder before our every eyes!
In that instant, Dante lifts one hand and slaps it right in the centre of The Hunter's chest. The masked man's eyes go wide as tendrils of smoke rise up from Dante's palm and, with a cry of pain, he leaps up, clutching at his chest. As he leans against the ropes, he stares down in horror at the burned flesh on his chest, shaped like a hand.
Banter: What the hell?!
Tex: I... I have no idea...
Dante rises up, tendrils of steam enshrouding him as the blood on his body and pooled around him evaporate in the heat. His eyes burn with infernal fury as he advances on The Hunter, lashing out at him with burning fists. The Hunter tries to defend himself, but wherever Dante touches, raw, scarlet flesh is left in his wake. The Hunter drops down to his knees, trying desperately to shelter himself from Dante's anger now, all the while blisters and welts rising on his flesh at the albino's merest touch.
Cain: What is going on here?
Tex: I don't know...I just don't know... Dante is...somehow he's...
burning The Hunter...
The Hunter is beaten down, lying in the ring, curled into a foetal ball. Dante stares down at him and then closes his eyes. He extends his hands and all his power seems to fade.
Banter: Why doesn't he pin him?
Cain: I think The Hunter is beaten, Banter. Dante knows it, and so does The Hunter, I think.
Dante stops his assault, and The Hunter on his knees in the middle of the ring. The fabric of The Hunter's mask is singed, and he holds his hands up, trying to stop the small embers from burning his face. Dante grabs his mic from earlier.
"This is enough! It ends here, right now! I didn't kill your wife! I didn't kill your child!! There's security footage from your own cameras that proves it!!"
Slowly, The Hunter rises to his feet, one hand still holding onto his mask. He moves in close to Dante, leaning into his face.
"Then show me!! We both know I won't believe I damn word you say, and with good reason! If you weren't there that night, prove it to me!"
"I... I was there... But I wasn't the one who did it! It was Bruce and it was Bleeder! I tried to stop it! I told them it was too far!"
"
SHOW ME!!"
The Hunter is heaving in the ring as he's forced to discuss the one thing that's sent him after Dante.
"I can't... The tape was in a lockbox and... someone's stolen my key."
The Hunter's body continues to heave, and he looks ready to snap. His arm leans back, readying for a strike, and Dante sighs.
"You mean this key?"
Jason Dante, The Hunter, and the crowd all turn towards the ramp. Standing atop it is a tiny figure, hulked by a large, grey man.
Tex: It's Elsie and Cage!
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Cain: And it looks like she's holding a key...
"I have your key, Jason... I've seen the video. And now both of you will too!"
Grainy, greyscale video comes to life on the Twistedtron. The interior of a large living room is shown. Jason Dante is there, alongside Bruce and Bleeder. They stand over a gruesome scene: A young woman lies on the cough, blood covering her body... or what's left of it. Her entire midsection, from throat to legs, is split open, torn apart. Jason is screaming, heaving, falling to his knees. Bruce and Bleeder calmly walk out of the room. The feed cuts off.
In the ring, The Hunter is enraged, running from ringpost to ringpost. Dante clearly doesn't know what to do.
Tex: That's... just... disturbing. Words fail me.
Holding the mic back to his face, Dante turns to The Hunter.
"You know now! I tried to stop it! Whatever it is you need to do about this, it doesn't involve me! So why don't you let that mask fall, and start showing your real face around here..."
The Hunter turns to Dante, shaking his head wildly.
"...
Lance."
Still shaking his head, screaming now, The Hunter leans on the ropes. Finally, he rips his mask off, his head still shaking.
Tex: Lance? As in Lance Canada?
Cain: Yes, it's him! Lance Canada is The Hunter! He's been the one stalking Dante all these months!
Banter: It's been a long time since he's been around...
Tex: He is the man who started this company! And the man who'd been haunted for years by Bruce, Bleeder, Dante, and the original Hellfire Club!
Grabbing the mic from Dante, Lance Canada holds it to his face.
"There. Fine. It's done. I just want this to be over now... That footage... I..."
Tex: Who wouldn't be breaking down, after seeing his own wife and unborn child like that!
"Over? Over?? This is far from over!"
Elsie and Cage are making their way to the ring.
Cain: What the hell is this now?
Dante and Lance turn, staring at Elsie as her and Cage enter the ring.
"I didn't show you that footage to help out Jason... I don't care if you know his truth or not. But Lance, your daughter wanted you to see what happened that night!"
Tex: His daughter??
Lance walks towards Elsie, his head again shaking. She nods her head at him and he falls to his knees, sobbing.
"That's right! I did not suffer my mother's fate that night..."
Cain: This is unbelievable!
"But tonight, some will suffer!"
Tex: What the--
Cage blasts through Dante, grabbing him and slamming him head-first into the turnbuckle! Elsie looks down at Lance Canada, her father, and places her hands on either side of his head. Holding tightly, she pushes, a mad glow in her eyes.
Cain: Lance is convulsing in the ring! Elsie and Cage need to stop this! There's been enough madness for one night!!
Lance Canada slumps over in the ring beside Jason Dante. Elsie throws down her mic and heads out of the ring, Cage right behind her.
Tex: This has without a doubt been the strangest, most troublesome night of my career...
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